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A Californian in South America 



REPORT ON THE VISIT OF PROFESSOR CHARLES 
EDWARD CHAPMAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALI- 
FORNIA TO SOUTH AMERICA UPON THE OCCASION 
OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS OF BIBLIOGRAPHY 
AND HISTORY HELD AT BUENOS AIRES IN JULY, 
1916, IN COMMEMORATION OF THE DECLARATION 
OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, 
JULY 9, 1816. 




(^^yi,aJXM^ ^- OtC^l^A^^ 



Published by Lederer, Street & Zeus Co. 

2161 Center Street, Berkeley, California 

1917 



b5 



A Californian in South America 



REPORT ON THE VISIT OF PROFESSOR CHARLES 
EDWARD CHAPMAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALI- 
FORNIA TO SOUTH AMERICA UPON THE OCCASION 
OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS OF BIBLIOGRAPHY 
AND HISTORY HELD AT BUENOS AIRES IN JULY, 
1916, IN COMMEMORATION OF THE DECLARATION 
OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, 
JULY 9, 1816. 



^ f ^ 




In order that a report on the representation of the Uni- 
versity of California by Professor Charles Edward Chapman 
at the American Congress of Bibliography and Historv, held at 
Buenos Aires in 1916, may be fittingly presented, I have asl<.ed 
Mr. Herbert I. Priestley to prepare the following official account 
of Professor Chapman's visit to South America. 

Henry Morse Stephens. 



^. 3^ ' ^7 



INTRODUCTION. 

The Argentine Declaration of Independence from Spain 
was proclaimed July 9, 1816. To commemorate the event, a 
series of centennial celebrations, both popular and intellectual, 
was held in Buenos Aires during July, 1916. Among the 
series was the American Congress of Bibliography and His- 
tory, to which the University of California was, in September, 
191 5, invited to send a delegate. The President of the Uni- 
versity, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, in consultation with Henry 
Morse Stephens, Head of History, appointed Professor Charles 
Edward Chapman to represent the University at the tongress. 

The choice was logical, inasmuch as Dr. Chapman had 
been for eight years identified with study of the history of 
Spain and Spanish America in this University, and was at 
the time assistant professor of those subjects. It had, fur- 
thermore, been demonstrated during Dr. Chapman's residence 
in Spain for two years as Traveling Fellow of the Native 
Sons of the Golden West, that he could represent California 
with dignity and sympathetic understanding of the thought 
and temperament of Spanish speaking peoples. "Muy sim- 
pdtico" is the term, devoid of tinge of insincerity, which "Don 
Carlos" wins at once in his dealings with Spanish speaking 
peoples. His experiences and his reception on the island of 
Majorca in 1914, upon the occasion of the unveiling of a 
statue to Junipero Serra, the Majorcan apostle of California, 
show that his presence there as representative of the University 
and the State contributed special significance to the cordial 
relations between Spaniards and Californians. Chapman's facile 
use of Castilian and his knowledge of Spanish manners and 
customs served to make his delegation successful where men 
with lack of that insight have failed. His visit to South 
America will be productive of increased sympathy and under- 
standing between the people of Argentina and the United 
States, that being the purpose of the establishment of the 
La tin- American Review, for which Chapman made himself 
such a zealous propagandist upon his return to the United 
States. 

It is to serve as a responsible record of that visit, and 
to preserve in collected form the documentary history of Cali- 



4 A Californian in South America 

fornia's participation in the international celebrations at Buenos 
Aires that this report is issued. 

Professor Chapman left Berkeley early in May, 1916, 
and sailed from New York on June 3. The southward voyage 
was broken by brief stops at Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and Monte- 
video, Buenos Aires was reached June 25. Attendance upon 
the Congress and visits to Tigre and La Plata occupied the 
time until July 31. On August i, a railway journey termi- 
nated at Santiago de Chile, where Chapman remained until 
August 10. His visit in Santiago was made pleasant by a meet- 
ing with the distinguished bibliographer, Don Jose Toribio 
Medina and the eminent historian, now president of the Uni- 
versity of Chile, Sefior Amunategui Solar. 

Valparaiso was visited from August 10 to 12, after which 
the slow coasting steamer Maipo was taken for Callao. Stops 
were made at Coquimbo, the chief naval port of Chile, at 
Huasco, Carrizal, Caldera, Chanaral, Taltal, Antofagasta (the 
busiest port in Chile, through which is had its principal con- 
nection with Bolivia), Gatico, Tocopilla, the great nitrate port 
of Iquique, Caleta Buena, Pisagua, and Arica. These are all 
Chilean ports, their chief business being derived from the 
copper mines of the interior mountains. 

This coasting voyage was devoid of incident save upon 
the occasion when, as the vessel was leaving Caldera, a piston- 
head broke, entailing a delay of nine days. The indefatigable 
voyager utilized this enforced delay by beginning work upon 
his forthcoming history of Spain, for which he had accessible 
certain materials. 

From Callao to Lima by the five-mile railway on Sep- 
tember I. Here Chapman remained until October 26. The 
intensely hospitable nature of the South Americans made it 
impossible to work, if once it was known that the Californian 
had arrived; hence it was necessary to remain incognito dur- 
ing the greater part of the visit to the City of the Kings. 
Material was gathered for study of the relations between the 
United States and Latin America, and chapters were added 
to the projected text of Spanish history. The incognito pre- 
served in a Peruvian pension was broken just at the close of 



Introduction 5 

the visit by meetings with the Senores Don Carlos Weisse and 
Don Carlos Romero, Peruvian historians. 

From Lima the homeward stretch was enlivened by stops 
at Salaverry and Payta (home of the genuine "Panama" hat), 
Panama, Colon, and Havana; northward, to Boston, the "home 
port," the journey from Key West was made by rail, via 
St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Richmond, Washington, and New 
York. 

On the Atlantic seaboard. Professor Chapman devoted 
his energies to the propaganda for a Latin-American^Historical 
Review, of which further notice appears in subsequent pages 
of this report. There, also, were composed the article on 
the South American archives and the speech at Cincinnati, 
which also appear on subsequent pages. 

It is of passing interest to note that this journey of Dr. 
Chapman's, in connection with his previous journeys, has 
brought him into direct touch with the peoples of thirty na- 
tionalities of the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. On 
his return trip to California he at last gratified a long cherished 
ambition to set foot in the only remaining unvisited state of 
the Union — Arkansas. 

The welcome accorded to Dr. Chapman in Buenos Aires 
and other South American cities where he represented the 
University of California was, both in point of personal atten- 
tions and in the reception given to the ideas which he sug- 
gested concerning future relations between the learned groups 
of the two continents, attestation of the fact that his errand 
was timely and propitious, and that it was executed with tact 
and taste. In subsequent pages more specific attention will be 
given to this phase of the journey; it is pertinent to notice 
here, nevertheless, some of the distinctive honors which were 
conferred upon him by his Latin-American confreres. Dr. 
Chapman was made honorary president of one of the sessions 
of the Congress, an honor accorded only to national delegates 
and to him; he was also made a member of the permanent 
Council of the Congress and of the Bibliographical Institute 
in the character of suplente or supernumerary. The active 
membership was appointed exclusively from among scholars 



6 A Calif ornian in South America 

living in or near Buenos Aires, and only four persons shared 
with him the honor of being named a suplente. 

The documents which form the body of this report are, 
with their brief prefatory notes, self-explanatory, and it is 
unnecessary to comment upon any of them at length. 

Herbert Ingram Priestley. 
Berkeley, April, 191 7. 



DOCUMENT I. 

Opening Address at the Formal Inauguration of the 

American Congress of Bibliography and 

History at Buenos Aires. 

This meeting was opened by the Argentine Minister o£ the Interior. 
The address was delivered by Dr. Chapman in Spanish. It will be 
published in Spanish in the volume which will record the acts and 
proceedings of the Congress. 

Most Excellent Minister, Mr. President, Fellow-Delegates, 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I desire, in the first place, in the name of California, whose 
University I represent on this occasion, to felicitate the Argen- 
tine Republic upon having completed, with such happy fortune, 
one hundred years since the Declaration of her Independence. 
Well may you felicitate yourselves, for the history of the world 
.does not record a more stupendous advance than that which 
Argentina has made since those memorable years when, under 
Liniers, she repulsed the attacks of a foreign power which 
was trying to take possession of her. Then, for the first time, 
Argentina was revealed to herself, and it was a matter of a few 
years for a Belgrano, a San Martin, and other illustrious gen- 
erals, to assure the independence of the country. It is difficult 
for me, a historian by profession, to leap from that moment to 
the present, without reminding you of the great men, well 
known though they be, who contributed, by their fervent 
patriotism and warlike valor, to the growth of this powerful 
Republic, whose greatest blasonry finds itself represented in 
this magnificent city of today. 

Argentina's mighty forward advance along the highway of 
progress is indisputably the determining cause why this Re- 
public, which, a hundred years ago, possessed little more than 
the potential wealth of its soil and the valor of its men, may 
today preside over an intellectual Congress, whose results may 
be of transcendent importance for the entire world. 

Nobody will deny that the object of the intellectual world 
is to seek for the truth. But I believe that the truth, once 
found and demonstrated, will permit the world in some com- 
ing, though distant, century, to live even in a kind of brother- 



8 A Californian in South America 

hood. When the intellect shall be able to dominate egotism 
and the emotions, or rather direct them by secure ways, then 
it will be possible to say that civilization has arrived at the 
age of manhood, after a stormy youth. Every century marks 
an advance toward that ideal, and, though we may never 
achieve it, it is worth while to seek it, in order to approach 
it as nearly as possible. 

One of the truths which is most worth while to learn, is 
the truth in regard to neighboring, though foreign, peoples. 
The Americas ought to know one another more and better 
than they have heretofore. Ladies and gentlemen, I assure 
you that we in North America^ are seeking, at the present 
time, a more accurate knowledge of you. This is evident, not 
only in our extraordinary development of the study of the 
Spanish language, but also in many other ways. The most 
interesting of this order is the great impulse there toward the 
study of the Latin American countries. A few years ago, 
not many universities had such courses in their curriculums. 
Today those which do are numerous, and there are others 
which are only waiting to find an authoritative teacher of that 
subject matter. In order that you may better understand this, 
I ought to remind you that there are more than a hundred 
universities^ in the United States, without mentioning many 
others of lesser grade, and that university education is almost 
general. By way of illustration, I beg permission to submit 
for your consideration some data about my own University, 
that of the greatest fame, in territory formerly Spanish, of the 
universities of North America — the University of California. 
During the almost twenty years of the presidency of Dr. 
Benjamin Ide Wheeler, the University of California has grown 
to such a point that, last year, there were more than ten thou- 
sand students there, with some eight hundred professors,^ with 
courses in all the branches of human knowledge. Among 
these are courses in Latin American studies. In the History 
Department, presided over by the notable historian. Professor 

iThe United States is habitually referred to as North America. 
2The word "universities" is used to include "colleges," since that is 
the Argentine acceptance of the word. 



opening Address 9 

H. Morse Stephens, ex-president of the American Historical 
Association, there are ten professors, of whom four teach 
material relative to Latin America. Among these there stands 
out Professor Bolton, one of the great historians, in my 
opinion, of the United States. Furthermore, there are other 
professors in other departments who teach closely related ma- 
terial on Latin America, as for example in the departments 
of Political Science and Economics. Probably we are some- 
what more advanced in Latin American studies than the ma- 
jority of the other universities. Nevertheless, it is the tend- 
ency of the day, everywhere, to devote more and more at- 
tention to the study of the countries to the south of our own. 

As for the means of bringing about a more effective de- 
velopment of our knowledge of one another, three methods 
occur to me. The first, at the same time the most important 
and the most urgent, would be the founding of a quarterly 
bibliographical review, concerning history, political science, and 
economics, with reference to Latin America. I can promise 
you the cordial co-operation of the universities and intellectual 
societies of the United States for this review. In the second 
and third places I suggest respectively the idea of an inter- 
change of professors and students between the Americas, which 
would greatly conduce, I believe, to a better mutual under- 
standing. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I should like to have more time 
to tell you of what we wish to learn from you, of how we 
desire to assimilate those fine intuitions and that good taste 
which you inherited with your Latin blood! How I would 
rejoice to express myself to the full about the very favourable 
impression created by Argentina's representation at our Panama- 
Pacific Exposition ! At any rate, I can do no less than tell 
you that Argentina was very fortunate in the selection of the 
men in charge of her representation, not only in that of Senor 
Anasagasti and the two Senores Nelson, whom I had the good 
fortune to know, but also in that of the other representatives, 
with whom I was not so fortunate as to become acquainted! 

3The word "professors" is used to include any member of the 
teaching staff, that being the use of the word in Argentina. 



10 A Californian in South America 

Would that I could explain to you how sincerely we desire 
your cordial friendship ! But I have already abused your at- 
tention a considerable time, and I end with the desire that 
the good results which are to be expected from this Congress, 
in consequence of the well meditated preparations of the 
executive committee, may be fruitful for the good of humanity, 
and thanking you warmly for the kindness with which you 
have listened to the words of this sincere partisan, the same 
as all of you, of the brotherhood of the American countries. 
That is all. 



DOCUMENT II. 
Resolutions Prepared by the Delegate From the Univer- 
sity OF California for the American Congress 
OF Bibliography and History at Buenos Aires, 
and Their Reception by the Congress. 



Resolutions. 

1. That a Latin American 
review of a bibliographical na- 
ture should be established ; 

That its scope should be 
limited to history and kindred 
subjects, such as political 
science and economics. 

Failing that, that it be lim- 
ited to material of a serious 
nature, excluding the purely- 
diverting. 

2. That space in the review, 
if established, be set aside for 
descriptions of archives, indi- 
cating the principal divisions of 
documents in them, their state 
of preservation, the means fa- 
cilitated for their use, and any- 
further information of utility 
in first instance to the investi- 
gator. 

3. That, in hopes of a great- 
er mutual understanding- be- 
tween the two Americas, the 
Congress declare itself in favor 
of a propoganda for: 

An interchange of professors 
between the universities of 
North America (the United 
States) and Latin America. 

A formal interchange of stu- 
dents between universities of 
the said countries. 



Reception. 

The principle of my resolu- 
tion was accepted, but, though 
I was the first to present it, I 
cannot claim to have been the 
only one who came to the Con- 
gress with this idea. The idea 
evolved itself into the founding 
of the Bibliographical Institute 
with its review, described 
below, in Document V. 

The resolution about archive 
descriptions was extended to 
include a recommendation that 
other reviews, as well as that 
of the Institute, should pub- 
lish them, and the words "in 
first instance" were omitted. 



This resolution was amended 
so as to read "between the 
countries of the two Ameri- 
cas" in the first paragraph, and 
at the end of the second 
the words "and between the 
Latin American countries 
themselves" were added. 



12 A Californian in South America 

Dr. Chapman's second resolution gave the Congress an 
impulse toward "the document," and thereafter that subject, 
always referred to as if it were his special property, became 
one of the most prominent ideas of the Congress. For an- 
other resolution (introduced by Dr. Sarmiento) see Docu- 
ment V. 



DOCUMENT III. 

Latin American Traits. 

An address by the delegate from the University of California at 
the banquet of the American Congress of Bibliography and Historj', 
at the close of the business sessions. The address was delivered in 
Spanish, and was published in Spanish in La Republica, La Plata, 
Argentina, July, 1916. It will also appear in the memorial volume of 
the Congress. 

More fitting would it have been for my distinguished 
fellow-countryman, Dr. Robertson,^ to speak in my place. A 
hundred times more learned than I, he has become one of 
our notable historians, seeking the history of South America 
as a field for the exercise of his talents. The author of the 
life of Miranda, a work which shared the first prize with 
another for the best volume of history in the year of its 
publication — such a learned historian would be able to speak 
with a vast knowledge of your own history. Nevertheless, 
with the permission of my friend. Dr. Robertson, I, the small- 
est star in our constellation, am remaining on my feet to 
speak, because I have had the good fortune to know the 
members of this Congress some ten days longer than my 
friend. 

There are others who have spoken and who will speak 
of the results which are to be expected from this Congress, 
chief among which is, perhaps, the very important founding 
of the American Bibliographical Institute. But since I am a 
North American, I have thought it well to touch another string 
of the guitar, and tell you of some other advantages for me, 
which this Congress has had— and even in some small degree, 
as you will see, for you. 

In the University of California I have the good fortune 

iDr. Robertson arrived the day before the close of the Congress 
as representative of the University of Illinois. 



Latin American Traits 13 

to teach the history of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. 
Each year, there come to my class some two hundred pupils 
who take for gold, that which many times 'is, far from being 
so — the poor words which I speak to them. Now, I am 
indeed going to offer them gold ! In this Congress I have 
seen many intellectual men of Latin America at work. Now 
I can, with some certainty, depict Latin American traits for 
the better understanding of two hundred pupils, who will be 
succeeded by another two hundred, and so on in the years 
to come. 

What am I going to say? In the first place it will occur 
to me to say that there are in South America vast material 
riches, a necessary precursor of the diffusion of culture, and 
that there are wealthy and at the same time cultivated men 
who devote themselves to that very diffusion; that in South 
America you have at least a beginning of a happy marriage 
of wealth with intellectuality. For an example, then, of whom 
shall I think if not of the notable initiator of this Congress? 
Doctor Nicanor Sarmiento, — I felicitate myself upon having 
met a gentleman who combines the above-named qualities with 
a complete unselfishness for his own account. For you. Doctor 
Sarmiento, — nothing was of any importance except the success 
of the Congress. Worthy possessor of an illustrious name,^ I 
have learned from you some Latin traits. 

And there are men who contribute, by their intellectuality, 
by their executive ability, and by their untiring labor, to the 
good of the world. Many have I known in this Congress 
who enter into this category, but among them I would like 
to speak of one, who seems to me to have been born to 
direct even other intellectual men themselves, laying aside his 
worldly tasks to aid with enthusiasm in the development of 
an ideal of the highest culture. Doctor David Pefia, — your 
nombre is Tact; your apellido, common-sense; and you are a 
caballero of Good Heart; and bear away with you my own.' 

^Doctor Sarmiento is a descendant of a former president of the 
same name, one of the most illustrious in the history of Argentina. 

^The description of Doctor Pefia falls "flat" in English. Nombre 
means Christian name; apellido, family name; caballero is gentleman, 
but carries also the significance of a title, which was its use here. 



14 A Californian in South America 

There remain other traits to talk about, and I would like 
to make individual mention of all who exemplify them, but 
the minutes are few during which I ought to speak. On this 
account I shall go on telling what I have learned without 
indicating the many men who have taught me. I shall speak 
to my pupils of the excellent universities of Argentina, whose 
professors have a clarity of mind and of words like the 
purity of a mountain brook; or they are enthusiastic battlers 
for science, or notable librarians. There are also Latin 
Americans who, however good historians or good bibliograph- 
ers they may be, are in equal degree lovable. There is some- 
thing in these men with that sympathetic trait that makes 
me think of drinking mate, eating churrasco, and dancing the 
tango to make myself a Creole !* I shall speak of some re- 
publics, which are not as broad in territories as others, but 
which are notable among all for their good laws and ad- 
vancement in social problems f republics represented in this 
Congress by men who rank with the most cultivated, hard- 
working, and brainy; symbols, as it were, of their father- 
land. One cannot calculate nations in terms of leagues for 
they may have men in the first grade of intellectuality. Thus 
it is that they are without boundaries, but reach to the poles. 
I have noted men of dignity and of handsome bearing, beau- 
tiful traits which are very general in this part of the world. 
And eloquence, yes ; everybody agrees that the Latin American 
has it. What eloquent paragraphs we have had the indis- 
putable pleasure of hearing! 

Well and good ! But besides this there exists what the 
world has not known so well, but it exists, and it is a pro- 
found basis of common-sense. There have been men in this 
Congress who show with clearness the roots of things, giving 
short speeches when the circumstances required it, and there 
are others, or even the same -men, who in two words hit the 

*Mate is a Paraguayan tea; churrasco is a native Argentine dish; 
a Creole is not a negro or an Indian, but a native born Argentine of 
white blood. Whoever drinks mate, eats churrasco, and dances the 
Argentine tango, will remain in Argentina forever ; so goes the refrain. 

^A reference to Uruguay. 



Latin American Traits 15 

mark. Bibliographers, historians, musicians,^ devotees of cul- 
ture, dearly-beloved friends! What, in fine, is the cultivated 
Latin American! Through your Latin blood I find that you 
conceive and see with more clearness than the people of the 
north. I see that you feel and aspire with more ardor of the 
soul than they. But if the Latin blood is lacking at times in 
perseverance, then may we repair to the second part of your 
name, for you are not only Latins, but also, like my country- 
men — Americans! In this hemisphere we have a new world, 
younger than the other, but more wholesome and more cap- 
able. If my eyes do not deceive me, that perseverance is here. 
Has it been lacking in Nicanor Sarmiento? Has it lacked 
in David Pefia? No — nor in the other, very much esteemed 
by me, American brothers of our Congress. I am grateful for 
the many words which have been spoken about the breadth 
of our culture in North America. But I wish to inform you 
that it was not a matter of great importance until thirty years 
ago, and by that many, and a few more, we have had an ad- 
vantage over you, in that our independence was declared be- 
fore yours. Long live our Institute of Buenos Aires! May 
others spring up in other lands! Then indeed, within a few 
years we shall all see one another as friendly rivals in culture, 
and brothers in life. 

Does it seem good to you what I am going to say to 
those, two hundred pupils? Have I justified the expense 
necessary for a journey from California to Buenos Aires? 
Well and good! But may you do the same — come to Cali- 
fornia! I shall show you that class of two hundred, half of 
whom are young ladies. How would you like to look into 
two hundred eyes — without paying any attention to the other 
two hundred — eyes that are blue, as well as brown? And 
that reminds me of the young ladies who have attended this 
Congress. Although they are not present I can do no less 
than recall their beauty, the smiles on their lips, and their 
perfect harmony in an atmosphere of intellectuality. 

Gentlemen, I thank you with all my heart for your cour- 

6A reference to the man who sat opposite me, Senor Menchaca, 
inventor of a new system of musical notation. 



i6 A Californian in South America 

teous attentions, and I invite you, whenever you are able, to 
come to the University of California, — for there in my house, 
you will find your own. 



DOCUMENT IV. 

California. 

Translation of a talk given by Dr. Charles E. Chapman, delegate 
from the University of CaUfornia, to the American Congress of Bib- 
liography and History, at a literary function of the Congress in the 
Ateneo Nacional of Buenos Aires. The original Spanish was pub- 
lished in La Mafiana, Buenos Aires, July, 1916. 

After a few preliminary remarks, without announcing his 
subject, the speaker proceeded as follows: 

I am going to speak of a land, half real, half fabled, as 
notable in romance as it is beautiful in life. Let us see if 
you recognize it. It is divided into counties, or departments, 
among which are those of San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, 
Santa Barbara, Salinas, Tulares,^ Monterey, Marin and Sonoma. 
Now hear the names of some of the towns, such as Vallejo, 
Coronado, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Juan Bau- 
tista, San Luis Rey, San Miguel, Santa Ines, San Rafael. San 
Juan Capistrano, Santa Lucia, San Pablo, San Gabriel, San 
Fernando, Purisima Concepcion, Carmelo, Alameda, Palo Alto, 
Pajaro, Saucelito,^ Escondido, Ventura, even Pozo, — and so 
many others, what with names of men and saints and those of 
a descriptive nature, that one could go on with the list for half 
an hour. Now, do you know the land to which I refer? Well 
then, I am going to tell you of four of the five greatest cities 
in that land, in reverse order of their size. The fifth in rank 
is called San Diego ; the fourth, Sacramento, is the capital ; 
jumping the third we come to Los Angeles, the second in size, 
with a population of about four hundred thousand; and the 
first, a city of nearly half a million inhabitants, is San Francisco. 
Now you know the land of which I am talking., and that it 

^Since "Tulare" is not correct Spanish, it was deemed better to 
use "Tulares," the plural of tular. 

^"Saucelito" is the former name of "Sausalito" and being a 
Spanish word, which "Sausalito" is not, was preferred in this account. 



California 1 7 

is not in Spain, nor yet in Latin America, for it is no other 
than the State of California in North America, — toward which 
I ask permission to direct your kind attention. 

Speaking of the real, the present day California, I could 
use the whole night in recording its almost unique beauties, 
its mild climate, its romantic history, and the ardent affection 
of its inhabitants for everything that reminds them of the 
former dominion of Spain. California is only one of the forty- 
eight United States, but, within that Union, is a little world 
somewhat different from the rest of the country, and so 
alluring that it is the most preferred land of recreation in 
North America. Its mountains are the highest in the United 
States, and some of its valleys descend even below the level 
of the sea. Its trees are at the same time the largest, and, 
in my opinion, the most beautiful in the world. Its high- 
ways are as excellent as might be expected in a land where 
one person in every thirteen is the possessor of an automobile — 
there are about 180,000 machines in a population of about 
2,750,000. Very rich, too, is California in products of the soil, 
and so too in the dwellings of its inhabitants, many of whom 
have made their millions in the eastern part of North America, 
to enjoy them later in the smiling land that looks out upon 
the Pacific Ocean. 

This is the real, the present-day California. But what 
of the California of fable? For centuries the name California 
has had a romantic meaning, as of an unknown land, of 
fabulous wealth. The most notable description in this sense 
was that of the illustrious author of novels of chivalry, Mon- 
talvo. You will remember that celebrated series of novels 
about the feats of Amadis de Gaula, Lisuarte de Grecia, and 
other heroes of the romances so caricatured and condemned 
by the immortal Cervantes in Don Quijote. One of that series 
was Las Sergas de Esplandidn, the already -mentioned work of 
Montalvo, published about the year 1500. This novel deals 
with a tremendous mythical struggle, although the author 
pretends that it occurred in fact, between all the Christian 
and infidel peoples before Constantinople, and among the latter 
there figured the queen, Calafia, of an island, California. 



i8 A Californian in South America 

Know, said Montalvo/ that to the west of the Indies, very- 
near the terrestrial paradise, there is an island California, 
which is inhabited only by women. Their arms and utensils 
are of gold, for in all the island there is no other metal, but 
this exists in the greatest abundance. To aid them in their 
wars, he said, the women of California make use of griffins, 
which live on the flesh of men, but which are absolutely tame 
and obedient to the women. The women are among the most 
beautiful in the world, and especially the splendid queen Calafia. 
Montalvo said much more, but among other things, he said 
one thing that does not sound so romantic today, and that is, 
that those extremely beautiful Califomians — were negroes ! 

I would like to tell you of the part, very amusing to 
read today, which Calafia and her Californians played in the 
supposed battle of Constantinople, and of their final conver- 
sion to Christianity and their marriages with the white Christian 
heroes. I would like, too, to speak to you of the influence of 
this novel on the soldiers of Cortes, and the search for such 
a California in the Pacific, to the west of the Indies, as Mon- 
talvo said. In order not to take more time, T shall tell you 
that the name was given to the land which now bears it in 
the belief that it was rich in gold — and well did history justify 
the naming when, in 1848, there occurred in California the 
famous discovery of that metal. 

And now, as I am about to close, just a word of a re- 
cent discovery, not of gold, but of a little fact of history, with 
which discovery the humble individual who is addressing you 
is in a measure connected. It seems that the use of the name 
California by Montalvo in 1500 was not the first. In the 
Chanson de Roland, the famous epic poem of the French, the 
word appears in almost the same form, and included in a list 
of infidel lands. Thus it seems that the California of fable 
was already in existence at the close of the eleventh century, 
when the Mohammedans were still powerful in Spain. We 
are now asking ourselves in California : What, after all, was 
California^ Was it a land of the caliphs of Damascus, or 

'^Allowance for possible inaccuracies must be made, since no data 
were at hand for the preparation of this paper. 



American Congress of Bibliography and History 19 

nothing more than a preoccupation of the poets? But you 
will agree, will you not, that the story is romantic, — just as 
the present-day land which bears the name California is rich, 
smiling, and happy. 



DOCUMENT V. 
The American Congress of Bibliography and History at 

Buenos Aires. 

This report was first published in the October number of the 
American Historical Review, 1916. 

On the 9th of July, 1816, a formal Declaration of In- 
dependence of the Spanish Colonies of the Rio de la Plata 
was made by a Congress in session at Tucuman. In conse- 
quence, a series of celebrations was organized in Argentina 
for the month of July, 1916, in honor of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the declaration of Tucuman, and as part of 
the program a number of congresses, embracing a variety of 
subjects, such as the congress "of the child," that of social 
science, and many others, were held. One of those congresses 
was the one with which it is proposed to deal in this article. 

It is open to question whether any other congress of the 
centenary accomplished more of real value than did the Ameri- 
can Congress of Bibliography and History. Its success was 
due in large measure to the untiring efforts through two years 
of the organizer of the congress. Dr. Nicanor Sarmiento, 
member of the distinguished family of the former president of 
that name, and to the extremely efficient direction of the 
congress by its presiding officer, Dr. David Peha, founder of 
the Ateneo Nacional of the Argentine Republic, and one of 
the leading intellectual luminaries of South America. Of no 
small importance, too, was the fact that the congress held its 
meetings at the Ateneo Nacional in Buenos Aires, instead of 
going to Tucuman, thus being free to devote its time to busi- 
ness, rather than to the round of ceremonies which formed a 
delightful, but somewhat too diverting, feature of the exer- 
cises at Tucuman. The congress began its sessions on July 5, 
and, except for the 9th of July, met every day, often morning, 



20 A Californian in South America 

afternoon, and night, until July 14, a supplementary meet- 
ing taking place the night of July 18. One day was given 
over to an excursion to the city of La Plata, but all the other 
meetings were confined to business. Historical and biblio- 
graphical papers were not read in open session, but were re- 
ferred respectively to two committees, and summaries only 
were submitted to the congress. Thus a vast amount of time 
was saved, which was utilized to the full, for the business 
proper of the congress. 

The congress was attended by 225 delegates, representing 
institutions in almost every country of the Americas, As 
was to be expected, however, the greater number came from 
Argentina. The delegates represented a wide variety of in- 
terests, not only historians proper, but also bibliographers, 
librarians, teachers, and men who were none of these, but 
who were interested in the subject matter, being among those 
in attendance. National delegates were present from Bolivia, 
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, 
San Salvador, Spain, and Uruguay. The writer of this article 
was formally a representative of the University of California, 
but was accorded the privileges and recognition of a national 
delegate. During the greater part of the meetings he was the 
only North American present, but in the closing days of the 
congress. Dr. William Spence Robertson, whose boat was 
late, arrived with the representation of the University of Illinois. 
It was unfortunate that more North Americans could not 
have been present, although the writer feels justified in saying 
that the mere presence of one, and at length two, was not 
without its effect in the deliberations of the sessions. Other 
North American universities which signified their adhesion to 
the congress were the following: Cornell, Chicago, Harvard, 
Louisiana, Minnesota, Tulane, and Yale. The following insti- 
tutions did likewise : Academy of Political Science of Phila- 
delphia, American Association for International Peace, Ameri- 
can Historical Association, Library of Congress, Pan-American 
Union, and the Smithsonian Institution. 

The most important business concerned the organization 
of the congress as a permanent body, and the founding of a 



American Congress of Bibliography and History 21 

bibliographical institute, both measures being prepared by a 
special committee of which the writer was a member. A 
permanent council of the congress was established, and pro- 
vision was made for a meeting of the congress at least once 
every three years, although the intention is that it shall take 
place every year. The next meeting is to be held at Monte- 
video on August 16, 1917, that date being the national holiday 
of the Republic of Uruguay. The founding of the Institute 
calls for more extended comment. 

The American Institute of Bibliography was founded, and 
the Ateneo Nacional of Buenos Aires was named the central 
and directing body, that society having already accumulated 
a considerable fund for this very purpose. It aims to get 
together the most ample data concerning books and articles 
.about the Americas or by a citizen of any of the American 
republics, and to supply such information, at moderate prices, 
to any who may desire it. The central institution plans to 
publish a monthly bibliographical review, charging from 12 
to 15 pesos ($5 or $6) for an annual subscription. It also 
proposes to edit works, publish documents, make translations 
of notable works, prepare catalogues and guides of archives, 
and acquire and exchange books. It was decided to recom- 
mend to the governments and important intellectual societies 
of the Americas that local bibliographical institutes be founded 
subordinate, in a measure, to the Ateneo Nacional of the Ar- 
gentine Republic, with a view to uniformity of objects and 
methods, the subordinate institutes maintaining correspondence 
with the central institute. Dr. David Pena was named presi- 
dent of the Institute of the Ateneo Nacional. 

Although the program of the Institute is exceedingly 
broad, the writer is confident that a practical result of value 
to North American students may be obtained. This opinion 
he bases on the exceptional executive ability and scholarship 
of Dr. Peiia, and on the start that has already been made 
by the Ateneo Nacional on its own account. 

Of the other business of the congress the following reso- 
lutions embodied what is perhaps of most interest to North 
American scholars. 



22 A Calif ornian in South America 

That the bibliographical reviews now in existence and 
those which may be founded be urged to publish descriptions 
of archives of the Americas, indicating the principal divisions 
of documents, their state of preservation, the means facilitated 
for their use, and any further information of service to the 
investigator. 

That the national and local governments of the Americas 
be urged to publish documents concerning the history of the 
two continents, and the catalogues of their archives, sending 
a copy of such publications to the bibliographical institute of 
the Ateneo Nacional of the Argentine Republic. 

That steps be taken to urge the publication of national 
bibliographies on a similar plan, with a view to an eventual 
bibliography of the Americas. The scholarly proposer of this 
resolution, Seiior Dias Perez,, chief of the Biblioteca Nacional 
of Asuncion, has already prepared a select bibliography for 
Paraguay which will shortly be published. 

That, with a view to a broader, mutual understanding be- 
tween the various countries of the Americas, the congress de- 
clare itself in favour of : An exchange of professors between 
North America (the United States) and the Latin American 
countries, and of the latter among themselves ; a formal ex- 
change of students between the said countries. 

That institutions be urged to send copies of their publi- 
cations to the Ateneo Nacional of Buenos Aires, and to ex- 
change publications among themselves. 

That, in the same manner, the exchange of bibliographical 
catalogues, whether in book form or in pamphlet, be en- 
couraged. 

That a special prize be awarded for the best bibliographical 
work presented at each succeeding meeting of the congress. 

That the proceedings of the present congress be com- 
piled and published in book form. It is planned to include in 
this volume some of the shorter bibliographical and historical 
articles of outstanding merit among the many presented to 
the congress. 

In connection with the congress, throughout its sessions, 
there was an exposition "of the book." Many institutions, in- 



A Latin American Historical Review 23 

eluding some from North America, sent work for this expo- 
sition. Three were specially noteworthy for their amplitude 
and value, those of the University of Cordoba (Argentina), 
the Biblioteca Nacional of Asuncion, and the private collection 
of Sefior Corbacho of Lima. The last named consisted of 
manuscripts from the period of the conquistadores to the end 
of Spanish rule, a truly extraordinary and voluminous col- 
lection, and if there are many more of the same type in Lima, 
that city ought to become an attractive center for the inves- 
tigator who goes to the sources. 



DOCUMENT VI. 

Anent the Founding of a Latin American Historical 

Review. 

This document appeared in the American Historical Review for 
October, 1916, page 217. 

The undersigned wish to suggest to the American His- 
torical Association, through the Review, that a section should 
be devoted at the next meeting of the Association to a dis- 
cussion of the feasibility of founding a Latin American His- 
torical Review. They believe that the publication of such a 
review would be possibly the most practical method for North 
American historical scholars to co-operate with the permanent 
congress and the American Bibliographical Institute, which 
have just been established by the Congreso Americano de 
Bibliografia e Historia at Buenos Aires. In connection with 
the project to found a new historical review, the under-signed 
wish to make the following tentative suggestions: 

1. That the said review should be devoted to the history 
(political, economic, social, and diplomatic, as well as narra- 
tive) and institutions of Spain, Portugal, and the Latin Ameri- 
can states. 

2. That it follow the general style and arrangement of the 
American Historical Review, but with more space allotted to 
bibliography. 

3. That articles in Spanish and Portuguese be printed 
as well as those in English. 



24 A Californian in South America 

4. That the articles pubHshed be mainly those of such a 
character that they cannot find ready acceptance in the regional 
periodicals, which already exist. 

5. That members of the American Historical Association 
who may be interested in the project, kindly consider it before 
the December meeting, with special attention to its financial 
aspects. 

Wm. Spence Robertson. 
Charles E. Chapman. 



DOCUMENT VII. 

Report by the Representative of the University of 

California of His Participation in the Congreso 

Americano de Bibliografia e Historia Held 

AT Buenos Aires in July, 1916. 

To President Benjamin Ide Wheeler: 

Pursuant to your appointment and your personal in- 
struction the writer proceeded to Buenos Aires to attend 
the Congreso Americano de Bibliografia e Historia as the dele- 
gate of the University of California. Accompanying this re- 
port you will find an account of the principal achievements 
of that Congress (see Documents V and VI) ; here, it is pro- 
posed to deal solely with the part played by the delegate of 
the University of California. 

Your delegate was one of 225 who had come to the con- 
gress, a number of whom were the national representatives of 
most of the governments of the Americas. Though not the 
formal representative of the United States, the delegate from 
California was received as such, being accorded all the privi- 
leges and precedence that such a representation would have 
called for, due, no doubt, to the fact that during most of the 
congress he was the only North American in attendance, one 
other arriving for the later days of the meeting. On this 
account your delegate was asked to speak on all formal occa- 
sions, and did so. I wish to emphasize the fact that he was 
asked to speak, for on no occasion did he volunteer or sug- 



Report to the President of the University 25 

gest that he would hke to do so. There were four such occa- 
sions when it fell to the lot of your delegate to make a 
formal speech, each one being delivered in Spanish,, to-wit : 
at the formal opening of the congress; at a luncheon given 
at the University of La Plata; at the banquet at the conclusion 
of the congress ; at the formal closing, of a literary char- 
acter, of the congress. I append translations into English of 
the first, third, and fourth talks (Documents I, III and IV), 
and may let them speak for themselves. The writer wishes 
only to add, that in them as in all of his work with the con- 
gress he tried to bear in mind three things : that he repre- 
sented the interests of the State and University of California; 
that virtually he represented the United States; that he was 
in the presence of Latin Americans, more especially Argen- 
tinians. 

No translation is appended of his talk at the University 
of La Plata, since that was delivered extemporaneously. Your 
delegate extended cordial greetings to the University of 
La Plata in the name of the president and regents of the 
University of California, expressed his personal satisfaction 
at seeing a university which reminded him so much of his 
own (for the University of La Plata is deliberately modelled 
on the North American plan), and complimented the univer- 
sity and the Argentine Republic on the high educational ideals 
that the vice-president of the University of La Plata (in the 
absence of the president) had just set forth as the aim of 
his university. The vice-president took occasion to reply, 
expressing his thanks and saying that he would welcome the 
establishment of intellectual relations between the universities 
of La Plata and California. The first and third talks of your 
delegate will be published in the proceedings of the congress. 
The third has already been published in full in La Republica 
of La Plata, occupying most of the space devoted to the ban- 
quet of the congress. The greater part of the fourth talk was 
published in La Manana of Buenos Aires. The writer also 
proposes to append (Document VIII.) the translation into 
English of an article now being prepared for La Epoca of 
Buenos Aires with the title (translated) "California's Place 



26 A Calif ornian in South America 

in Pan-American Relations." As the mail for North America 
leaves within a few days, it will be impossible to enclose the 
printed account, if in fact it shall appear. 

As for your delegate's work in the congress, this may be 
measured in part by a comparison of the projects that he pre- 
pared beforehand and presented to the congress with the re- 
sults that were actually obtained. A note is appended (Docu- 
ment II., see also Document V.) with the object of setting 
this forth. Here, it may be said that his objects were to pro- 
mote such measures as seemed to him best suited to meet the 
wishes of North American historical scholarship, and to foster 
any measure which might tend to a better mutual understand- 
ing of the United States and Latin America. Your delegate 
was also a member of the most important committee of the 
congress, the one which formulated what was to be its prin- 
cipal results. In debate he felt it best not to play too con- 
spicuous a part, and so spoke only in introducing his own 
resolutions or when specifically asked to do so by the president of 
the congress, something that happened on several occasions. 
This policy was justified, he believes, by the cordial reception 
that he never failed to get. 

Perhaps the greatest measure of a delegate's success, but 
the one which is the most difficult to describe, is the way in 
which he is received socially by his fellow-delegates and by 
prominent men of the city where a congress is held. Measured 
in terms of luncheons and dinners, the count is already not 
small with other functions yet to come. Your delegate also 
received invitations, which he was obliged to decline, owing 
to lack of time, to speak before the Ateneo Nacional and be- 
fore the Sociedad de Empleados de Banco (Bank Employees' 
Club). A better index, however, is that of the very agreeable 
personal relations of an informal character that he has had 
with members of the congress. The writer is more grateful 
than he can express for the kind attentions that have been 
showered upon him, especially by men who, like David Pena, 
Nicanor Sarmiento, Viriato Diaz Perez, Carlos Salas, Alberto 
del Solar, and Jose Lestache, were outstanding figures of the 
congress. Your delegate would be happy if you might direct 



Report to the President of the University 2y 

a letter to Dr. David Pefia (Ateneo Nacional, Charcas 1743, 
Buenos Aires), thanking him for the kindness which he per- 
sonally and so many others displayed toward your delegate. 
Such a letter^ the writer believes, would not be unwelcome to 
the recipient and would redound to the credit of the University 
of California in the minds of Argentinians. To repeat what 
men have said of your delegate in open session or to him 
personally would be improper without documentary evidence, 
but in two instances this exists. One is a speech of Sehcr 
Menchaca and the other an address of Dr. Pefia. The pub- 
lished account of each is appended.^ The address of Dr. Pefia 
is especially noteworthy, not only because of the position he 
occupied as president of the congress, but also because it was 
the principal address at the formal closing of the congress, in 
which Dr. Pefia summed up its work. Not only is the reference 
to the University of California delegate a generous one, but 
also the amount of space is noteworthy, when one considers 
the number of delegates and the comparatively brief space 
given to most of the formally accredited national delegates. 
The paragraph may be translated freely as follows : 

"Among the outstanding figures of the congress there 
appeared from the very inaugural session that of Dr. Don 
Carlos E. Chapman, professor of the University of California. 
In a Spanish that was well dominated, as if his very pre- 
caution might have made it more firm and sure, he expresses 
his clear-cut ideas with that precision of the smith accus- 
tomed to the blows of the forge. A man worth while to those 
on this side of the Americas, he has been so in very truth 
for the objects of this congress, because of his character as a 
university professor and his exceptional dedication to the 
document ( i. e. emphasis on the importance of utilizing source 
materials in historical writings). Dr. Chapman has not so 



iPefia's reference to Dr. Chapman is given in the body of this 
article. Menchaca included him in a paragraph in which he alluded 
to the "prominent men" in attendance at the Congress, describing him 
as "the sinipatico delegate of the University of California, so f.v'r in 
his judgments, and clear in his observations, who has furnish .d us 
with so much interesting data about the rich archive of the Indies at 
Seville, the result of his own researches therein." 



28 A Californian in South America 

much as by a single gesture pretended to any superiority over 
us. I can in no better way eulogize his character as a man 
of the world and of talent." 

The remarks about your delegate's not having made any 
pretence of superiority will be understood by those well ac- 
quainted with Latin America, but require elucidation for the 
benefit of those who are not. The keen Latin perception de- 
tects the air of superiority if it exists, and often, perhaps, 
believes it to exist when the unfortunate North American has 
intended no such thing, but has merely expressed himself 
badly. The one or the other has happened so often that Latin 
Americans have come to regard us as apt to have opinions 
that are not very flattering to their own amour propre. The 
writer believes, therefore, that his own usefulness at the con- 
gress depended very largely on the fact that he did not, as 
indeed he could not, pretend to be a person of consequence, — 
added to a certain facility that he had in speaking and under- 
standing Spanish. 

Very respectfully, 

Charles E. Chapman, 



DOCUMENT VIIL 

California's Place in Pan-American Relations. 

The original Spanish was published in La Epoca, Buenos Aires, 
July, 1916. 

At the moment when we have just celebrated the happy 
completion of one hundred years of Argentine independence, 
it is fitting to stop a moment to pass in review and ponder 
what has happened in the many branches of Argentine life. 
In one corner of that life one finds the ideal of Pan-Ameri- 
canism, and, within that, the relations between Argentina and 
North America. It is of record that North America has two 
advantages in her development — that of a more happy colonial 
life, and that of having obtained her independence some forty 
years before Argentina. Nevertheless, in the memorable year 
of i8i6^ the two countries were alike in this, — that each had a 

^On July 9, 1816, the independence of the Spanish colonies of 
the Rio de la Plata was declared at Tucuman. 



California's Place in Pan-American Relations 29 

civilization markedly that of the mother country, but modified 
by the somewhat difficult conditions of the new world, and 
that each had the same ideals of government and of liberty. 
In everything else we were so far apart from one another that 
the two countries were almost the absolute opposite of each 
other. In addition to the difference of our English civiliza- 
tion from your Spanish, there were almost no relations between 
us, whether commercial or social. 

Now let us look at the result of an hundred years. The 
equality of conditions has continued in this, that each country 
possessed abundant lands and developed within itself, but with 
the important addition that very diverse influences from all 
parts of Europe have entered in both. Thus we have grad- 
ually approached each other, year after year. Tod.ay, Ar- 
gentina is to be seen with a civihzation that it is not proper 
to call Spanish. Many Spanish elements still remain, but with 
the addition of others that are Italian, English, Germ.an, and 
French. All have combined to form what cannot be called 
anything but an Argentine civilization proper. In like man- 
ner has it passed with us. The North American is not Eng- 
lish, but a compound of the English with German, Scotch, 
Irish, Itahan, French, and Spanish elements. This shows, I 
believe, that a strong basis of sympathy is developing in the 
two Americas — founded on much more than our similar forms 
of government. The basis is here, but relations with one an- 
other have little more than started. There is much yet that 
the two peoples can learn from each other, for the good of 
both. Laying aside commercial affairs and political treaties, 
which can indeed be amplified, there still remains that which 
is more properly of a social character, to which it is worth 
while to refer. 

The notable English historian, Mr. Martin A. S. Hume, 
wrote an article a while ago in which he expressed an opinion 
that the very differences between the North American and the 
Spaniard are of a character which attracts the one to the 
other, rather than the reverse. Mr. Hume was writing of the 
Spaniard, but dealt with characteristics which are equally Ar- 
gentine, so that the argument serves for Argentinian-North 



30 A Calif ornian in South America 

American relations. Not to delay too much over the article 
by Mr. Hume, I shall point out what he said — that the Spaniard 
(like the Argentinian) has some extremely sympathetic traits 
but does not reject the practical, and that the North American, 
at the same time that he is very practical, is very fond of 
anyone who possesses such sympathetic traits as does the 
Spaniard, — and as also the Argentinian does. Thus it is, 
that only a better understanding is lacking, and that calls 
for a greater opportunity for the exercise of friendly rela- 
tions- — and nothing more. 

Speaking in the American Congress of Bibliography and 
History, I pointed out how eagerly we are seeking a better 
understanding with the Latin Americans. I referred to the 
extraordinary development of the study of Spanish in North 
America, and to the tremendous impulse toward the study of 
Latin American countries. Nowhere in the United States 
have these tendencies been stronger than, in the State of Cali- 
fornia, in the extreme west of the country. There more than 
anywhere else, the spirit of the former Spanish civilization 
has remained; there one finds a fond, even enthusiastic, love 
for all that reminds one of the Spanish influence, and, by 
association of ideas, for everything Hispanic and Latin Ameri- , 
can. The old Franciscan missions are preserved with the most 
affectionate care; there are many who possess two native 
tongues — the Spanish and the English, and the former is 
studied in the secondary schools by nearly everybody, — much 
more than French or German; and there we have the great 
University of California, with its ten thousand pupils and 
eight hundred teachers, devoting itself in large measure to 
Hispanic and Latin American studies, more than in the other 
universities of North America. Does it not prove something 
that the University of California has sent the writer of this 
article on a journey of 16,000 kilometres (and double that, 
with the return journey), to take part in a congress of history 
and bibliography in Buenos Aires? If it had any further 
object, it was only that it desired me to study Latin America 
from close at hand, in order to teach it later to my pupils, with 
greater knowledge and more sympathy. 



A Visit with Jose Toribio Medina 31 

In fine, I believe that California, because of its history 
and traditions, because of its blood and language, and be- 
cause of the studies of its greatest university, is the most 
suitable medium in North America for the development of a 
better understanding between North America and the sister 
republics to the south, — and, as the principal interest of Ar- 
gentinians, between North America and the very sympathetic 
and powerful Republic of Argentina. 



DOCUMENT IX. 
A Visit With Jose Toribio Medina 

By Charles E. Chapman, Assistant Professor of History, 
University of California. 

This article has been accepted for publication in the May, 1917, 
Overland. 

In Chile one hears a great deal of the heroes of the war 
of independence against Spain. O'Higgins, Cochrane and San 
Martin, of the beloved hero of the war of 1879 with Peru, 
Arturo Prat, of the poet Bello, and of the historians Vicufia 
Mackenna and Claudio Gay. These are but dimly known 
names in the northern world, except to men who have special- 
ized in the Latin American field, but where will one go in 
the scholarly world and find a man who has not heard of the 
colossus of bibliographical lore, Jose Toribio Medina of San- 
tiago de Chile ?^ It was with something of the feelings of a 
pilgrim entering Jerusalem or Mecca that I approached the 
Calle Doce de Febrero, in which street, at number 49, is the 
house of Sefior Medina. A sumptuous and elegant street? 
Far from it! There were only two houses in the block that 
were two stories high, and neither bore the number 49. The 
servant girl who took my card when I had reached the house, 
informed me that Senpr Medina was not at home, but if I 
would come the next morning at eight, I would certainly find 

Jl have borrowed freely, especially for exact biographical data, 
from a pamphlet of Armando Donoso entitled: Vida y Viajcs de un 
erudito . . . Jose Toribio Medina. (Santiago, 1915). I have used noth- 
ng, however, that did not come up in my conversations with Sefior 
Medina. 



32 A Californian in South America 

him. I half wondered if he had given orders to return that 
answer to all who called, — so as not to be disturbed in his 
invaluable work, or so as to test their sincerity, — but I re- 
solved to make a supreme effort and be there next morning 
at eight. 

Later on, this day, I paid a visit to the Biblioteca Nacional. 
As I was taking my leave of Sehor Laval, one of the librarians, 
he asked me to meet Sehor Blanchard-Chessi, head of one of the 
most important sections of the library. We went into the 
latter's office, and I was presented in due form. 

"Perhaps you would like to meet this gentlemen who is 
working here," said Sehor Laval, in an absolutely casual tone, 
indicating a little old gentleman who had three or four vol- 
umes open before him. "Sehor Medina, permit me !" 

Senor Medina, indeed ! Perhaps, I did want to meet him ! 
There was nothing in Santiago I wanted more ! I nearly 
"jumped out of my boots" with enthusiasm. So I sat down 
and chatted awhile with Medina and Blanchard-Chessi, and 
pretty soon I prepared to leave, for it seemed almost criminal 
to take the time of Jose Toribio Medina. But no, — he would 
not have it ! On the contrary, he said that he had done enough 
work for one day, and suggested that we stroll down to his 
house, where he could show me his library and his printing 
establishment. So we walked down, — went all through the 
house, — were joined by Sehora Medina and had tea. Nor was 
this all, for I was invited to come to luncheon next day, an 
opportunity of which I most certainly availed myself. 

I had visualized Medina as a man of tremendous, almost 
forbidding erudition, cold and precise in speech, and bent in 
figure with the weight of his learning. I was right, certainly, 
as to the vastness of his knowledge, but in everything else I 
was wide of the mark. At the time I visited him (in August, 
1916) he was not quite 64, (born October 21, 1852), a small 
man, certainly not over five feet four inches tall, and with a 
youthful vigor and a pair of eyes of such exceptional keen- 
ness that one might place him in the forties, despite the par- 
tial appearance of gray hair. His conversation too, has a lively 
sparkle, full of anecdote and jovial reminiscence. Withal, he 



A Visit with Jose Toribio Medina 33 

is a simple and modest man. He has been told of his world- 
wide fame, but hardly seems to realize it; he views his repu- 
tation as if it belonged to another man, related in some inde- 
finable manner to himself. 

And yet what a life this man has had, and what a work 
he has done ! His life in large measure explains his work, 
and is perhaps a very worthy lesson in the science of biblio- 
graphy. His father, though a man of literary talent himself, 
frowned on the similar aspirations of his son, planning for 
him instead a career of practical utility in the field of law 
and politics. Medina, in fact, became a lawyer, and a national 
deputy and secretary of his party, but even in these active 
years he was preparing himself for his later career. He read 
with avidity the old chroniclers of the colonial era, and by 
way of variety displayed an interest in literature in general, 
in folklore, and in ethnology, writing several articles on these 
subjects, among which may be noted his translation of Long- 
fellow's "Evangeline." In succeeding years, too, he studied 
not a little in the field of natural science and astronomy, all 
of which subjects he considers to have been of great help 
to him in his historical deductions. In 1874 he was appointed 
secretary of the Chilean legation in Lima, a fortunate appoint- 
ment which marked the turning-point of his career. Despite 
the hard work of the legation, Medina found time to visit the 
libraries and archives of Lima, and to publish several historical 
studies. In 1876, he decided to visit the United States, in 
order to attend the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and 
although this necessitated his resignation from the service, he 
carried his resolution into effect. For three months he was in 
the United States. By this time he had made up his mind 
to follow the career toward which he had all along been in- 
clined; so he now set out for a journey of study in Europe. 
For several months he was in London, working by the side 
of Pascual de Gayangos in the British museum. He then went 
to Paris, where he frequented the Bibliotheque Nationale, going 
later to Spain, where he stayed, on this occasion, but a short 
time. In June, 1877, ^^ was back again in Chile, and in the 



34 A Californian in South America 

following year he published his three volume Historia de la 
Literatura Colonial, the fruits of his journey to Europe. 

Possibly the keenest and most persistent desire of Medina's 
literary career, cherished since boyhood, and only now about 
to be realized with the publication of the third and fourth 
volumes of his work, has been the study of the life of Ercilla, 
author of the famous poem, La Araucana. It was this which 
led him soon to undertake a dangerous journey to Araucania in 
Southern Chile, a journey rendered difficult, not only by the 
lack of means of communication in that day, but also by the 
hostility of the Araucanian Indians, whom he came to study 
at close range. Upon his return, Medina plunged into his 
work, which was to appear later as Los Ahorigenes de Chile, 
but, before he could finish it, war broke out, in 1879, against 
Peru and Bolivia. At first, Medina was connected with the 
manufacture of cartridges for the army, but, having invented a 
method which facilitated that manufacture, he was promoted 
and sent north to Iquique. His principal service in that region 
was as judge of the district, a post which he held for a year 
and a half. 

A fortunate acquaintance in Iquique with Patricio Lynch 
procured for Medina an appointment as secretary of legation 
in Madrid when the former was sent as minister to Spain. 
For several years, Medina made the most of the opportunity 
which had been given to him, being encouraged in his re- 
searches by the Chilean government, which granted a small 
sum of money for the making of copies. No less than 365 
volumes of copies, of 500 pages each, were the result of his 
labors. Furthermore, he formed valuable friendships at this 
time with men like the Duke of T 'Serclaes and the Marquis 
of Jerez de los Caballeros, with Monsignor Delia Chiesa (now 
Pope Benedict XV), and especially with men of letters like 
Menendez y Pelayo, Campoamor, Nufiez de Arce, Tamayo y 
Baus, Fernandez Guerra, Zaragoza, Fernandez Duro, and a host 
of others. Laden with rich materials Medina returned to 
Chile in 1886, in which year he married Mercedes Ibanez y 
Rondizzoni. From that year until 1892 he was engaged in a 
mad fever of publication, no less than 24 volumes appearing 



A Visit with Jose Toribio Medina 35 

over his name, among them his Historia del Tribunal del 
Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion en Lima (2 v, ), Historia del 
Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisiciion en Chile (2 v.), 
Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Chile (4 v.), 
Coleccion de Historiadores de Chile y Documentos Relativos a 
la Historia Nacional (4 v.), and various of his Imprenta series 
and other bibliographical works. 

In the midst of his work there came the Chilean revolu- 
tion of 1 89 1. As a partisan of the Liberal president, Balma- 
ceda, he was regarded with suspicion by the other side, and his 
house was searched three times in the belief that it was his 
printing press which was publishing the Balmacedan literature 
being circulated in Santiago. At length, Medina was obliged 
to take refuge in Argentina. Eight months he remained in 
Argentina an exile, but in this period he became the friend of 
General Bartolome Mitre and other outstanding figures in the 
scholarly ranks of that country, besides preparing his Historia 
y Bibliografia de la Imprenta en el Antiguo Virreinato del 
Rio de la Plata. In October, 1892, he went again to Spain, 
where he remained four years. If his previous journey had 
been remarkable in its results, this was even more so. Not to 
mention several works of his that appeared while he was still 
in Spain, he published, in the seven years following his return 
to Chile in 1896, no less than 78 volumes. Some of these 
were documents, with notes by Medina; others, works of bib- 
liography; and still others, volumes of history proper. 

Late in 1902 he left Chile on a new voyage of discovery, 
going successively to Lima, Guatemala and to various cities of 
Mexico, always in search of bibliographical data and always 
adding new friends, such for example, as Presidents Estrada 
Cabrera and Porfirio Diaz of Guatemala and Mexico, and the 
Mexican scholars Vicente Andrade, Nicolas Leon, Genaro 
Garcia, and others. Then he went to France, and later on to 
Italy, working, among other places, in the library of the Vati- 
can. In 1904 he was in Chile again, with the materials for a 
fresh campaign of publication. In the next eight years he pub- 
lished more than 60 volumes, bringing to a close his monu- 
mental works on the bibliography of the Americas. 



36 A Californian in South America 

In 191 2 Medina made a fourth visit to Spain, this time 
resolved to reaUze his ambition of procuring materials about 
the poet Ercilla. After overcoming innumerable difficulties, 
he was successful in his task, and the years since- 1913 have 
seen the preparation of his four volume work on Ercilla, two 
of which have already appeared, while the other two were in 
page proof at the time of my visit with Medina. Naturally, 
this phenomenon who exudes publications has put forth several 
other volumes in the past three years. By a narrow margin 
Sehor Medina missed yet another long trip, in 191 5. In that 
year. President H. Morse Stephens of the American Historical 
Association invited him to attend the meeting of the associa- 
tion in San Francisco, offering to pay the cost of the journey. 
When the letter came, the Medinas were in the country at a 
point where mails arrived very infrequently. Thus it was that 
the invitation was received too late. Otherwise, according to 
Medina himself, he would have accepted. 

And now the house. Although it is but one story high 
on the street front, it gets to be quite big, farther back. The 
greater part of it is devoted to Medina's library and his print- 
ing establishment. Naturally, Medina could not afford a first- 
class printing-press, for he is not a wealthy man. His is noth- 
ing more than a hand-press, the third which he has had since 
1877, and from these three have issued the greater number of 
Medina's works. Ordinarily, he employs three or four men 
in his printing establishment, and sometimes many more, when 
there is a pressure of work, but on this day, a Monday, there 
was only one man at work, for Monday in Chile "is a day lost" 
said Medina, the national curse of a drunken week-end requir- 
ing an extra day to get over the effects. The great Medina 
himself often sets type and turns the wheel of the hand-press. 
What a sensation every lover of learning must feel to be in 
this house which has meant so much to the world, where 
miracles have been wrought in the face of tremendous diffi- 
culties ! As Medina stood by his hand-press talking with me, 
it seemed as if I were in the house of a Gutenberg, with 
Gutenberg himself accompanying me. In another room we 
found a quantity of paper to be used in future volumes. The 



A Visit with Jose Toribio Medina 37 

present scarcity of paper, due to the European war, has not 
affected Senor Medina. "I foresaw what was going to hap- 
pen," he said, "and procured an extra supply." 

Medina's library, or rather his series of libraries, is one 
of extraordinary interest and value. Of books of a general 
nature there are few. One room is devoted to his own publi- 
cations, and others to his bibhographical treasures and manu- 
scripts. Each room has little more than a passage way, for 
the books have overflowed from the stacks into huge piles on 
the floor. He has accumulated about 12,000 volumes of other 
men's works, virtually all of them being of a date prior to 
the end of Spanish rule on the American continents, a hun- 
dred years ago. On Mexico alone he has no less than 8,000 
volumes, all published before 1821. His particular hobby has 
been the collection of editions of Ercilla's La Araucana, al- 
though he has not been able to get all of them. Many other 
rare works are in his possession, such, for example, as the 
Thesoro Spiritual de pohres en lenguas Michuacal, pubhshed 
in Mexico in 1575, of which only four copies are known to 
be in existence, and even more the Manuale Sacramentorum 
and the Ceremonial y Ruhricas Generales, published in Mexico, 
respectively in 1568 and 1579, and each, so far as can be as- 
certained, the only known copy in the world. "What a task 
you must have had," I said, "not only to collect this wonderful 
library, but also to get the bibliographical data about the 
other volumes referred to in your works!" "Yes," he said, 
"but the hardest work is not collecting; rather, it is in verifying 
references to books or editions of doubtful authenticity. One 
item may require the work of a historical monograph, — and 
then you reject it." 

An account of the life of Medina, or even of such a visit 
as I had, would be incomplete if it should fail to give generous 
space to Dona Mercedes Ibafiez de Medina, wife of the great 
bibliographer. The Ibahez family claim descent from the 
Marquises of Mondejar, a noble Spanish house, but they are 
famous on their own account, because of their participation 
in the political life of Chile. Sefiora Medina had travelled 
widely before her marriage, for her father was in the diplo- 



38 A Californian in South America 

matic service. For a year she was in Washington, during 
Grant's administration, where she learned to speak EngHsh. 
President Grant once talked with her for half an hour at a 
reception, which was the longest he had ever spoken with 
any one person at such an affair, according to the next day's 
papers. "I was only a little girl then," she said, and indeed 
she looks as if she were still in the forties. She is both im- 
mensely proud of her husband and unaffectedly devoted to him. 
"The two principal duties of a wife," she said, "are to help 
her husband when she can, and not to disturb him at other 
times." She herself reads proof, makes out bibliographical 
cards, and in fine does every little bit of intellectual drudgery 
within her power, to help the work along. One day an Ameri- 
can professor and his wife came to the house when Medina 
was out, whereupon the Seiiora showed them about. She did 
it with such enthusiasm and understanding that the gentle- 
man said, "I now understand why Sefior Medina has been 
able to do so much work. He is two.'' 

It is at the table that one sees Jose Toribio Medina at 
his best.^ There he is full of joviality and anecdote. 
"Did you know that I came near being an American?" he 
said. And then he told how he and a friend took rooms with 
a private family in Philadelphia, the year he went to the expo- 
sition. For the fifteen nights that they were there, neither 
went out of the house a night, so attractive were the two 
daughters of the family. Medina's friend, a well known diplo- 
mat today, married one of the young ladies. Medina likes to 
talk of the American scholars he has known, such as Bingham, 
Coolidge, Lichtenstein, Moses, Rowe, and Shepherd. "Most 
travellers who come to Santiago go to the hill of Santa Lucia," 
said Sefiora Medina, "but the Americans come here." Re- 
ferring to his copy of the Laudationes quinque of Bernabe 
Echefiique, published at Cordoba in 1766, the first work in 

^As we were finishing our luncheon Sefior ■ Don Domingo Amu- 
nategui Solar, President of the University of Chile, came in. He has 
been in the habit of dropping in for a moment at this hour, every day 
for the past twenty years, for a word or two with his friends, the 
Medinas. Senor Amunategui is not only a university president, but 
also a distinguished historian. 



A Visit with Jose Torihio Medina 39 

the history of printing in Argentina, he told the following 
curious tale of how he came to acquire it. During his stay- 
in Argentina he became intimately acquainted with a biblio- 
maniac whose instinct for collection was so great that he did 
not refrain from stealing rare volumes, when other means of 
acquiring them failed. One day, this man visited the rich 
library of the Franciscans of Cordoba. He was shown about 
the library, but as his habits were not unknown to the friars, 
the attendant who went with him was told not to leave him 
for an instant. At length, in an out-of-the-way corner, he saw 
no less than five copies of the Laudationes quinque, which he 
felt that he must obtain. How to get rid of the attendant was 
the question. An idea occurred to him; he pretended to faint, 
and fell like one dead to the floor. The startled attendant 
ran for help — and the bibliophile pocketed all five of the rare 
volumes. One of these he gave to General Mitre who in turn 
gave it to Medina. While he was in Guatemala, Medina 
worked in a building which was only a step from police head- 
quarters. Now and then, his bibliographical toil was inter- 
rupted by the sound of shots at the latter edifice, for people 
were executed there almost daily. One day, he was invited 
to an audience with President Estrada Cabrera. A friend told 
him that various officers were posted behind curtains in the 
audience hall, with revolvers cocked, ready to shoot any visitor 
who made the least motion which seemed to them suspicious, — 
whereupon Medina did not accept the invitation. As evidence 
of the unstable state of affairs at that time, Medina tells of 
having to get a permit from the Minister of the Interior to 
leave the country, and in order to embark at San Jose, a tele- 
gram from the president was necessary. Nobody was excepted 
from these requirements, not even foreign diplomats. Of an- 
other type is the story he told about the poet Bello. Bello 
married an English girl who never learned to speak Spanish 
well, in particular mixing her genders, using the masculine 
when she should have used the feminine, and vice-versa. On 
one occasion, when she said la caballa (for el caballo), Bello 
said to her, "For Heaven's sake, woman, either use the mascu- 



40 A Californian in South America 

line all the time or the feminine all the time, and then occa- 
sionally you will hit it right." 

These anecdotes tell something of the nature of this amiable 
gentleman, but there were others which tend to prove that 
the man who is recognized abroad as possibly the greatest that 
Chile has produced, is not fully appreciated in his own land. 
On one occasion a distinguished foreigner came to Santiago, 
and desired to call on Sehor Medina. "Do you know where 
Jose Toribio Medina lives?" he asked a cab driver. "Cer- 
tainly," was the reply. It did not seem strange, even that a 
cab driver should know the residence of Chile's great man; 
so the gentleman said no more. Presently he arrived at the 
house of Sefior Medina, but it proved to be, not that of Jose 
Toribio, but that of a certain Medina, widely known as a 
proprietor of race-horses. Gradually, due to the honors ac- 
corded him in foreign countries, a realization is dawning in 
Chile that Jose Toribio Medina is a man of note. This feeling 
has not gone very far, however. On several occasions the 
government has given small sums to assist his publications, 
but on several others it has promised funds, and then with- 
drawn them. The government's action in the case of the 
Ercilla documents is in point. In 1903 the owner of the docu- 
ments offered to grant the privilege of copying them for 6000 
francs. A bill for that sum in the Chilean congress failed, 
on the ground that it was a useless expense. Several years 
later, that sum was voted by the government, but not paid over. 
After Medina had completed his work and published two of 
the volumes, the government withdrew the grant, on grounds 
of economy, leaving Medina to pay the bills. Verily, a prophet 
is without honor in his own country. "I sometimes wish my 
husband had been born in England or in the United States," 
said Senora Medina; "there they esteem a man for his work, 
but here if one says nothing about himself, people think he 
does not amount to anything. My husband is too modest; he 
will not praise himself." One wonders at the short-sightedness 
of the Chilean millionaires who have lost a chance to im- 
mortalize themselves by failing to finance this man whose 
reputation will live when even their family names will have 



A Field for an Historical Survey 41 

passed away. "If some wealthy Americans, like Carnegie or 
Huntington, could be brought to realize under what difficulties 
you are doing your work," said James Bryce, on the occasion 
of his visit to the house of Medina, "they would almost cer- 
tainly want to assist you financially." A Chilean senator 
was present at the time. "No," said Medina, "it is not neces- 
sar}'; the Chilean government gives me all I need." "Out of 
patriotism," said Sefiora Medina, who was telling the story, 
"he would not tell the truth, which was quite different." 
"Furthermore," added Medina, with a twinkle in his eye, "I 
was trjung to produce an effect on Senator X, — but it did not 
work." 

And yet could Jose Toribio Medina have done much more 
under any circumstances? Up to two years ago, he had pub- 
lished 226 volumes, since which time a number of others have 
appeared, to say nothing, not only of his collection of books 
and manuscripts, but also of his collections of medals, coins 
and what not. It is wonderful to have done so much in any 
event, and still m.ore wonderful to have done it in far-away 
Chile, with such slight means at hand. If Chile and the Chileans 
have done little to help, it is to be hoped that they will make 
amends, some day, by recognizing the merit of this extra- 
ordinary^ man. 



DOCUMENT X. 

South America as a Field for an Historical Survey. 

This article has been accepted for publication in the Report of the 
Public _ Archives Commission, in the Annual Report of the American 
Historical Association. 

There can be no question that the excellent series of guides 
to material in foreign archives for the history- of the United 
States, published by the Carnegie Institution, has already re- 
sulted in contributions to history, of recognized value, and 
enhanced our reputation in the world of scholarship, and will 
do so yet more in the future. It is hardly necessary to argue 
the value of these publications. A very real question arises, 
however, when one asks where such historical surveys ought 
now to be undertaken_^ whatever may be the institution or insti- 
tutions to engage in"" the work. While the great war lasts, 



42 A Calif ornian in South America 

and perhaps for a number of years after its close, it will hardly 
be worth while to send men to Europe, and the same thing 
is true ,in only less degree as regards Asia. ■ It is the purpose 
of this article to argue for a campaign in South America, and 
to present certain data to show that the countries of the neigh- 
boring continent are apt to yield a rich harvest of valuable 
manuscript material, of which historians have as yet made 
little use. A preliminary question remains as to the m_ethod 
to be followed. 

The plan of the Carnegie Institution has been to seek only 
such material as related directly to the history of what now 
constitutes the United States, and to make general descrip- 
tions of the archives and bundles, or volumes, in which it is 
found, selecting only what seemed to be the more important 
American items for individual mention, and omitting material, 
however important for other purposes, if it had no direct bear- 
ing on the history of the United States. The omission was 
justifiable in the case of guides to European archives, for it 
certainly is not necessary for American historians to do pioneer 
work in European history, or in the case of such works as 
Bolton's guide to materials in Mexico, where the purely local 
items concerning the United States were so numerous as to 
require a volume in themselves. As for Central and South 
America and the Caribbean area, however, it would seem well 
to modify the system thus far employed by the Carnegie Insti- 
tution to the extent of making general descriptions of all of 
the material, with an inclusion in the individually mentioned 
items of the more important documents with regard to the lands 
themselves where they are found, as well as those related 
directly to the United States. Not much of the necessary 
pioneer work has yet been done in Latin America, and no 
people are better equipped with men and funds than our- 
selves, and except for Latin Americans, no others are more 
interested than we are. Many will agree Avith the writer that 
the two Americas are indissolubly bound up with each other, 
whether they like it or not, commercially, politically, and per- 
haps in yet other ways. It is becoming generally recognized 
that the United States cannot live unto itself, as it has been 



A Field for an Historical Survey 43 

doing in the past, and — is it not well that our historical work 
should follow the trend of the present and probable future in- 
terests of the country? Who will deny that Latin America 
is a vital factor of inestimable importance in the foreign rela- 
tions of this country? Is it not desirable, then, in our own 
interests, as well as in theirs, and in the interests of historical 
scholarship in general, that we should seek a better under- 
standing of the Latin American countries through the study 
of their past? 

During a visit of nearly six months in South America, 
in the year 1916, the writer had an opportunity to make a 
superficial survey of a number of important archives. The 
result of his investigations in Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Lima 
will now be set forth, not that they constitute a guide to the 
archives of those cities, although they may be useful as ? 
preliminary, and without any assertion of entire accuracy 01 
due. proportion, but as some evidence to show that a South 
American historical survey, on the broad basis suggested in 
this article, would bring a rich return. 

A. BUENOS AIRES 

I. Archivo General de la Nacion. This is one of the 
most important archives in South America, and the conditions 
for work are of the best. Nothing could exceed the courtesy 
of its chief, Jose L Biedma, or its secretary, Augusto vS. 
Mallie. Permission to work must be obtained from the Suh- 
Secreiario de Instruccion Puhlica, on previous advice of the 
head of the archive, but any duly accredited scholar may be 
almost sure of obtaining the necessary permit. Few archives 
are so entirely at the disposal of investigators, for all docu- 
ments, without limitation as to date, are available, except such 
as may injure a third party. By law, all ministries of the 
government are required to send their papers to the archive 
when they are five years old, but the law has not been very 
well complied with. 

There are perhaps ten thousand or more bundles^ in the 

lA "bundle" or legajo, as used in this article, may be estimated to 
contain about two thousand pages of material, for a page of about 
Syi by 11 inches. 



44 ^ Calif ornian in South America 

archive, and they are gradually being bound into volumes, 
three men being employed on the vi^ork. By far the greater 
part of the documents relate to the colonial period, and in this 
respect the archive is extraordinarily rich; Senor Biedma be- 
lieves it to be the richest archive in South America for Spanish 
colonial material, in part because the documents cover the 
whole region of the Rio de la Plata country, extending even 
into Bolivia, and in part due to the scattering of the formerly 
much richer archives of Peru. The collection here is especially 
valuable for matters of real hacienda, or finance, which, of 
course, was the foundation stone of Spanish colonial adminis- 
tration. 

There is a most praiseworthy spirit of co-operation on 
the part of the archivists with historical workers ; Biedma him- 
self is a veritable enthusiast. Two volumes of documents have 
already been published by the archive, one of the revolutionary 
period, and the other of royal decrees (cedulas) from 1580 
to near the close of the seventeenth century. Incidentally, a 
heater was installed in the room for investigators, — a luxury 
that the archivists in other rooms, Biedma among them, did 
not enjoy for themselves. 

2. Museo del General Mitre. The valuable collections 
of this institution, which include books, coins, medals, and 
much else, as well as manuscripts, were given to the nation 
by General Mitre, who was not only an Argentine president, 
but an all-round scholar and historian as well. There are about 
one hundred thousand manuscripts of original correspondence, 
dating from the earliest colonial times, down to the year 1900. 
The Museo has published forty volumes of documents, but 
they are only a drop in the bucket, and relate almost wholly 
to Mitre's work. There is a one-volume index of colonial 
documents, but it is far from containing an indication of all 
the colonial documents in the collection. Investigators are free 
to use anything the Museo has, and a rough, temporary index 
of manuscript material has been provided for their use. They 
may be sure of the co-operation of archive officials, among 
whom is the well known Argentine scholar, Romulo Sabala, 
secretary of the Museo. 



A Field for an Historical Survey 45 

3. Facultad de Filosofia y Letras. This college of the 
University of Buenos Aires is worth mentioning, not for the 
number of its manuscripts, though it is appreciable, but be- 
cause of the work that it is doing, under the efficient direction 
of scholars like Doctor MoHnari and others. Fourteen volumes 
of documents have already been published. 

4. Other archives of Buenos Aires. Other archives, indi- 
cated to the writer as being particularly rich in manuscript 
materials, and more or less available to historical investigators, 
were those of the Biblioteca Nacional, Biblioteca del Congreso, 
Afchivo de Tribunales, Archivo de Correos, and the private 
collections of Enrique Pefia and Ramon Carcano. 

B. SANTIAGO. 

I. Biblioteca Nacional. The archive of this library is by 
far the most valuable in Chile for historical students, since 
certain other government archives are not open to the public. 
Conditions for investigators are nearly ideal. Permission to 
work is granted without any formalities whatever; all that one 
has to do is present himself and begin, and about the only 
rules are that one may not disfigure or steal a document. As 
yet, not many investigators have taken advantage of the op- 
portunity to use this archive, but they may be sure of a 
welcome when they do come. The director, Tomas Thayer, is 
not only one of the best known historical scholars in Chile, 
but is also the superlative of amiability and courtesy. North 
Americans have a certain claim on him, since he is descended 
from a Massachusetts family of the same name. His great- 
grandfather was captain of a "Boston ship," which came to 
an untimely end at Valparaiso, and Seiior Thayer's grand- 
father, who was also on board, took up his residence in Chile. 

The archive contains material dating from the coloniza- 
tion of Chile, in the sixteenth century, down to the year 1817. 
Naturally, most of the documents are for the eighteenth cen- 
tury, but there are also a great many for the earlier periods. 
All are in an excellent state of preservation, for destruction 
from humidity and the bookworm are unknown in the excellent 
climate of Santiago; the writing in documents two centuries 
old is as clear as if written but yesterday. In addition, the 



46 A Californian in South America 

most commendable care is taken of the collection. There are 
about sixty-five hundred volumes, of approximately seven hun- 
dred pages each, which have already been bound. As much 
more material remains for binding. About three thousand 
volumes relate to Audiencias, — not to the territory embraced 
by the jurisdiction of an audiencia, as in the case of the well- 
known sets in the Archivo General de Indias of Seville, Spain, 
but to acts of the audiencia itself, such as cases at law and 
residencias. A three-volume catalogue of this set has already 
been published. There are nearly a thousand volumes of 
Escrihanos, a set rich in materials for the social and economic 
life of colonial Chile. The set called C ontaduria, dealing with 
affairs of real hacienda, contains about five thousand volumes, 
commencing with the year 1609. Over a thousand volumes 
are devoted to the correspondence of the captain-generals and 
related matters. There are about five hundred volumes con- 
cerning the Jesuits in Chile, and these papers are valuable 
for historical data with regard to the Philippines, Panama, 
Porto Rico, and Mexico, because of the ramifications of the 
Jesuit order. In addition, there is a miscellaneous aggregation 
of volumes which cannot be characterized by a single word or 
phrase. Among these are the documents on which the Chilean 
historians Gay and Vicufia Mackenna relied, in writing their 
works. The miscellaneous group also includes about thirty 
volumes of copies procured at the Archivo General de Indias. 
Sefior Thayer believes that the archive over which he presides 
is the richest in South America in colonial material, — a belief 
in which Sefior Biedma of Buenos Aires would not share. 

2. Archivo Jeneral de Gohierno, and other government 
archives. Except for matters related to courts of law, the 
official administrative papers of the Chilean government, from 
181 7 to 1902, are kept in the Archivo Jeneral de Gobiemo. The 
papers of later date than 1902 are to be found in tne various 
ministries. Matters of justice are in the archive of the Tri- 
bunales de Justicia, where conditions are sirnilar to those en- 
countered in the Archivo Jeneral. The last-named archive 
contains some thirty thousand volumes of about seven hundred 
pages each, divided according to the ministry ixom which they 



A Field for an Historical Survey 47 

came. All are well taken care of, and are kept in excellent, 
glass-fronted cases. A suitable person might obtain permis- 
sion to use the archive, by applying to the minister in charge 
of the department from which the papers had come, but the 
collection is considered a private archive of the government, and 
investigation is not invited. 

C. LIMA. 

1. Scattered archives. The history of archives in Lima 
is a tale of the great number and extraordinary wealth of the 
documents, and of disintegration and lack of organization. Vast 
quantities of documents have undoubtedly been utterl)^ lost, 
many have passed out of the country into foreign hands, and 
perhaps the majority that still remain have gone into private 
archives, which are usually inaccessible to historical scholars. 
Many notable Peruvian historians, such as Paz Soldan and 
Mendiburu, have relied upon documents belonging to them- 
selves in compiling their histories, but the great majority of 
these private collections have not been made use of at all. 

On October 9, 1916, while the writer was in Lima, a bill 
was introduced in the Peruvian congress for the formation of 
a national archive, for the custody, preservation, deciphering, 
cataloguing ,and publication of documents; documents of the 
colonial era and the first fifty years of the republic were to 
be gathered there, being taken from the ministries and other 
governmental depositories where they now exist, and docu- 
ments now in private hands were to be acquired, when possible. 
It is doubtful if anything comes of this, even if the bill is 
passed, for there is very little real interest in history in Peru, 
and no demand worth mentioning for organized historical or 
archival work.^ The bill itself calls for an appropriation of 
only one thousand pounds a year, out of which all expenses, 
salaries included, are to be taken. 

2. The national archive. A national archive, though not 

^Such were the views expressed to the writer by Dr. Carlos 
Wiesse, Professor of History at the famous University of San Marcos 
of Lima, and a historian of note, and by the indefatigable archaeologist 
and historical scholar, Carlos Romero, of the Biblioteca Nacional 
of Lima. 



48 A Californian in South America 

as an organized, working institution, already exists, the docu- 
ments being in the care of the Biblioteca Nacional of Lima. 
The place where they are kept was closed, while the writer was 
in Lima, and no date seemed to have been set for its reopen- 
ing.^ It contains what is left of the once great public archive 
of Lima, with documents dating from the earliest colonial 
times, down to the first year of the republic, in 1824. Since 
1824, public documents have been kept in the different minis- 
tries of the government. The writer was told that existing 
archives would probably be open to students, but none of them 
ever come. 

Even before the close of Spanish rule, the dispersion of 
this wealth had begun, for retiring officials often carried away 
the documents that interested them. Under the republic, not 
much thought was given to archive material, and great loss 
occurred through unlawful sales by grafting officials, local dis- 
turbances, lack of care, and ravages of the bookworm, which is 
very active in Lima. In 1878, a definite attempt was made 
to organize the archive, and ten manuscript volumes of indices 
were prepared. At that time, there were 1401 bundles and 726 
large folio volumes, principally devoted to Tahacos, with a 
considerable amount of material also under the headings of 
Inquisicion and Temporalidades — Jesuitas.^ 

The work done in 1878 was rendered of no avail by the 
disastrous war with Chile, which broke out in 1879. The 
national archive did not suffer from spoliation by the Chileans 
so much as some other institutions did; nevertheless, a great 
many documents were mutilated, others carried away to Chile, 
and many sold in Lima which have since been added to private 
collections ; even the indices were lost. For several years the 
documents were thrown together almost utterly without care. 



^The information set forth in this paragraph was taken from the 
Revista de archivos y bibliotecas nacionales (now defunct), v. T, No. 1, 
(1901), pp. XIX — LXXXXII (sic), supplemented by conversation with 
Senor Carlos Romero. 

*The figures follow — Bundles : Temporalidades-Jesuitas, 239 ; In- 
quisicion, 361; Censos, 57; Tabacos, about 446; Polvora, naipes, etc., 
about 64; Audiencia de Cuzco, 105. Folio volumes: Temporalidades, 79; 
Tahacos, (A7. 



A Field for an Historical Survey 49 

but after the war was over, an attempt at the physical preser- 
vation of the documents was made. In 1890, valuable colonial 
materials were taken from other depositories, and added to 
the national archive. The principal sets in these acquisitions 
were Cajas Reales del Virreynato, Aduanas, Real Tribunal de 
Cuentas, and Tribunal del Consulado. Nobody seems to know 
how great a quantity of materials still remains in the archive, 
but there are probably upwards of two thousand bundles, and 
nearly a thousand folio volumes. 

3. Biblioteca Nacional. This institution has a collection 
of 340 volumes of manuscripts, of which some three hundred 
were the selection of the eminent Peruvian scholar, Ricardo 
Palma, from the documents of the national archive.^ Naturally, 
these documents are of great value, and some of them are 
being published, from time to time, in the Coleccion de libros y 
documentos referentes a la historia del Peru, edited by Senor 
Romero. 

4. Santo Domingo and San Francisco. The convents 
of these two orders, and those of other orders or churches, in 
less degree, have archives recording the activities of their or- 
ganizations in Peru, mostly in the colonial era. Santo Domingo 
has three hundred volumes of manuscripts, and San Francisco 
about half that number. Scholars would be permitted to use 
them. 

D. OTHER ARCHIVES. 

An indication has been given of only the principal archives 
of three South American capitals, and, in the case of those of 
Buenos Aires and Santiago, of those which are perhaps the 
best equipped and most progressive in the continent. If re- 
ports which the writer has heard on every hand may be be- 
lieved, particularly the references made at the Congress of 
Bibliography and History, held at Buenos Aires, in July, 1916, 
there are numerous repositories of unexplored material, scat- 



^The forty odd volumes, other than those selected by Palma, are 
of a miscellaneous nature. There is one manuscript volume of cetreria, 
dated 1384. There is also a manuscript copy of about 1450 of Lopez 
de Ayala's famous chronicle of the reigns of Pedro the Cruel and the 
kings immediately following. 



50 A Californian in South America 

tered over the southern republics. One must not think, either, 
that all of the valuable materials are to be found in archives 
of the greater countries. For example, there are no less than 
six thousand bundles in the national archive of Paraguay, most 
of them bearing on the colonial period, according to Sehor Diaz 
Perez, head of the Biblioteca Nacional of Asuncion. 

In fine, materials in great quantity and probably of great 
value exist in South America. Publication of documents is 
going on at some of the principal archives, but even at the 
present commendable rate, it would take a great many years, 
perhaps centuries, before the greater part of available material 
of value could be published. Is it not worth our while to make 
an organized effort to find out what exists? 



DOCUMENT XI. 

Circular Letter Addressed to American Historians in the 
Latin American Field. 

23 Hancock St., Winchester, Mass, 
November 25, 1916. 

"You may have seen the communication in the October 
number of the American Historical Review, in which Dr. Wil- 
liam S. Robertson and I propose the founding of a Latin 
American Historical Review, to deal principally with the history 
and institutions of Latin America. 

You will soon receive the printed program for this year's 
meeting of the American Historical Association at Cincinnati 
in which will be announced a dinner, Friday evening, December 
29, for all who are interested in the project for the new re- 
view. I can assure you in advance that many of our leading 
Latin Americanists are in favor of the idea, and it is at the 
suggestion of some of them that I am writing this letter, ask- 
ing you to plan to be present at the dinner. 

If you know of anybody also interested in this matter, 
professors, students, or business men, who are likely to be in 
Cincinnati at the time, please tell them that we want as many 
as possible to attend. I cannot now state the price of the 



The Latin American Meeting at Cincinnati 51 

dinner or the place, but both, no doubt, will be satisfactorily 
arranged. 

Please write to me if you expect to attend, and all the 
more if you do not expect to; we want your views as to the 
desirability of this project, and similarly those of the other 
men to whom you may mention it. 

Very truly yours, 

Charles E. Chapman. 



DOCUMENT XII. 

Minutes of the Latin American Meeting, Cincinnati, 
December 29, 1916. 

The Group Dinner for those interested in Latin American 
history was attended by about thirty, two of whom were ladies. 
Dr. Justin H. Smith, of Boston, was requested by Dr. Charles 
E. Chapman to preside, and Dr. James A. Robertson, of Wash- 
ington, was appointed secretary of the meeting. Without any 
preliminaries. Dr. Chapman was called upon to outline the pro- 
ject for a Latin American Review. He did so as follows: 
The Project for a Review to deal with Latin American History. 

I. The need for such a Review : 

A great many American students in the Latin American 
field have for a long time wished that there might be some 
organ devoted to their interests. According to them, not only 
was there no single periodical adequate to their needs among 
the many who admit occasional Latin American material, but 
also a combination of all readily accessible periodicals of this 
nature would hardly suffice for their needs. In other words, 
the field of Latin American history was, and still is, almost 
wholly without organization. It would clearly be a great ad- 
vantage to our students to have an organ devoted principally 
to Latin American history, both as a medium for articles which 
do not find a necessary inclusion in periodicals already in 
existence, and especially for bibliographical and other technical 
information which is now difficult or impossible of access. 
Furthermore, many of our students have felt that the general 
subject of Latin America and the relatFons of the United 



52 A Californian in South America 

States with, and with regard to, Latin America is important 
enough to merit a Review, and they are confident that it is a 
field which is going to advance out of -its present relatively- 
modest status into a leading position in our historical activities. 

II. How the idea arose : 

The definite project for such a Review, to be open also 
for material with regard to Spain and Portugal, and those 
parts of the United States once owned by Spain (but only so 
far as affected by Spanish contact), first took shape in my 
mind at the suggestion of the great Spanish historian Rafael 
Altamira, during the special meeting of the American Histori- 
cal Association at San Francisco, in the summer of 191 5. A 
year later, in July, 1916, Dr. William Spence Robertson and 
I were delegates to the American Congress of Bibliography 
and History at Buenos Aires, and we found that such a Review 
would fit in with the projects discussed at that Congress, and 
would receive the hearty co-operation of Latin American schol- 
ars. We thereupon sent a communication to the October num- 
ber of the American Historical Review, proposing that a Re- 
view be founded^ and suggesting the following editorial policy: 

{Dr. Chapman here read the communication, with several 
additions, as follows:) 

1. That the said Review should be devoted to the his- 
tory (political, economic, social, and diplomatic, as well as 
narrative) and institutions of Spain, Portugal, and the Latin 
American states. {Addition : Latin America should form the 
principal field. The field should also extend to those parts of 
the United States once owned by Spain). 

2. That it follow the general style and arrangement of 
the Anterican Historical Review, but with more space allotted 
to bibliography. 

3. That articles in Spanish and Portuguese be printed as 
well as those in English. {Addition: Articles in French also). 

4. That the articles published be mainly those of such a 
character that they cannot find ready acceptance in the regional 
periodicals which already exist. {Addition : This Review 



The Latin American Meeting at Cincinnati 53 

would not compete with any existing reviews, but would really 
be a help to them). 

Upon my return to this country a month ago, this dinner 
was arranged for the discussion of the project. 

III. The financial situation : 

On the advice of Dr. Jameson and Dr. Turner, I made no 
attempt, before this meeting, to see whether financial support 
could be obtained, but I am able to present some data to you 
bearing upon that subject. 

(Dr. Chapman here read the pertinent parts of a letter 
from the Waverly Press of Baltimore, as follows) : 

Under separate cover we are sending sample copy 
of the Amercian Political Science Review, which em- 
bodies the general specifications we would recommend 
for your proposed publication. 

Regarding cost of such publication, based upon 
data given in your letter: 
500 copies, 128 pages and cover, if set in 11 point 

type (foreign matter not to exceed 10%) would 

cost approximately $225.00 per issue. 
500 additional copies would cost iic each. 

For pages set in smaller type there would, of course, 
be some additional charge. 

The cost of mailing an issue of 500 at second class 
rates would be about $3.25 to $3.50. 

Printed wrappers, $2.00. 

Wrapping and addressing, $3.25. 

These are approximate figures, but very close to 
actual. 

The paper which we use and which is shown in 
the sample volume is one which we have made specially 
according to a formula which we have long been using 
and which has been approved by the Bureau of Stan- 
dards and Arthur D. Little Co. of Boston. It would 
be possible to reduce the cost slightly by the use of 
cheaper paper, but not materially, and we feel that this 
would be unwise as your journal will contain material 



54 A Californian in South America 

which you would desire preserved, and the chemists 
have advised us that the paper which we are using 
insures permanency of record. 

In addition comes the matter of editorial expense and 
cost of articles which I do not feel competent to estimate, 
although I believe a fairly generous allowance should be made 
for both. Over against this, there would be an income from 
subscriptions to the Review and from advertising. At the out- 
set this sum would not be very great. At $3.00 a year there 
might not be enough subscribers among men in the field and 
libraries to produce more than $500 a year, although you will 
perhaps be willing to agree with me that this is a conservative 
estimate. This would leave a deficit of from $500 to $1000 a 
year. If the Review should prove a success, however, the 
annual deficit would in time become much less through an in- 
crease in the number of subscribers, possibly more advertising, 
and a sale of the earlier numbers; but a subsidy will probably 
be necessary for many years in order to make expenses meet. 

The chances for a subsidy are perhaps better for a maga- 
zine in this field than for almost any other that might be de- 
sired at present; at any rate, that is the opinion of several 
men with whom I have talked. Mr. George P. Brett, president 
of the Macmillan Company, is among those who believe that 
the problem of financing this particular periodical is not a diffi- 
cult one at all. If the idea is taken up at this meeting, he offers 
to furnish our organizing committee with a list of all the men in 
New York who might be interested in the project. He also 
makes a further offer, which I think you will recognize is one of 
very definite advantage — the use of the Macmillan Company im- 
print for the periodical. Nothing could more clearly indicate 
his approval of the idea. 

IV. Symposium of the letters: 

I think the most interesting thing I have to tell you is to 
let you know how men in the American historical profession 
view this plan. I sent out ^2 letters, nearly all of which went 
to members of the American Historical Association, believed 
to be interested in Latin American history. If I missed any- 



The Latin American Meeting at Cincinnati 55 

body, the slight was unintentional. All but 12 answered — a 
praiseworthy record, I think. Of the 60 who did answer, 8 
were non-committal, 6 were opposed, and 46 announced them- 
selves in favor of the project. The question most prominent 
with supporters of the plan was the financial one, and this was 
also alluded to by several of the opponents. I think it may 
be taken as the opinion of the writers that an adequate financial 
backing should be found before the magazine is launched. 

Another point discussed was that of the name of the 
Review. Many objections were made to the term "Ibero- 
American," originally proposed. Other names suggested were 
"Hispanic-American Historical Review," "Latin American His- 
torical Review," "Spanish American Historical Journal," and 
"Journal of Spanish American History." 

Three of the men who oppose the founding of the Review — 
the only ones to state the ground of their objection — believe that 
there are not enough men and sufficient equipment in this coun- 
try to provide first-class articles for such a Review. On the 
other hand, letter upon letter expressed the opinion that on 
that score there could be no doubt of the success of the Re- 
view. It might also be argued that the very existence of the 
Review would result in an advance in our capacity to do good 
work; without the Review, it is difficult to measure up to even 
our present more or less latent capabilities. 

One prominent reason for supporting it was because of 
the relationships that it would engender with Latin America. 
Some viewed this matter from the standpoint of national affairs, 
and others from that of professional relations with Latin 
American historians. Several writers urged that articles from 
Latin Americans in their own language be printed frequently. 

A great many alluded to the purely professional advan- 
tages to our own men engaged in the Latin American his- 
torical field. 

V. (Continuing, Dr. Chapman read letters from the fol- 
lowing gentlemen, to-wit, Messrs. Lichtenstein (Northwestern), 
Klein (Harvard), Rowe (Pennsylvania), Bingham (Yale), 
Martin (Leland Stanford, Jr.), Bolton (California), Priestley 
(California), Shepherd (Columbia); from Willard Straight, 



56 A Californian in South America 

Archer Huntington, John Barrett, Secretary McAdoo, and 
President Wilson. Of the latter Dr. Chapman said) : 

Finally, I wish to read you a letter of which we cannot 
fail to take notice, coming from the source it does. If the Re- 
view is founded, I would like to see this letter printed on the 
first page. , 

President Wilson's letter expresses his "very sincere ap- 
proval of the project," and adds, "It is a most interesting one 
and ought to lead to very important results both for scholarship 
and for the increase of cordial feeling throughout the Americas." 

VI. Machinery for action : 

In conclusion, I wish to propose a resolution and two 
motions, all of which I think best to discuss together, although 
they may be voted separately. The resolution follows : 

Resolved, by members and guests of the American His- 
torical Association gathered at the Group Dinner to discuss 
the project to found a Latin American Review; 

That the general project for such a Review seems to them 
a desirable one, provided adequate financial backing can be 
procured. 

If you will pass this resolution, I shall feel that my efforts 
for the founding of the Review have not been wasted, whatever 
you may decide upon with regard to my motions, 

I move : 

I. That a committee of seven be chosen at this meeting, 
to be called the Committee on Organization, with power to 
take all steps which may in their judgment seem best to found 
a Review coming within the general objects proposed in the 
project for a Latin American Historical Review, their power 
to include : 

(a) A right and a duty to seek an endowment to guaran- 
tee its permanence. 

(b) A right to select a name for the periodical. 

(c) A right to define the mitial editorial policy of the 
Review. 

(d) A right and a duty to provide for its initial organ- 
ization and management. 



The Latin American Meeting at Cincinnati 57 

(e) A right to set the date when publication shall begin, 
provided that date be not later than January, 1918. 

(f) A right to dissolve without founding the Review. 

(g) A right and a duty to do anything else which may 
seem desirable or necessary. 

2. That a committee of three be chosen, to be called the 
Nominating Committee, with a single function, to be exercised 
once only, viz., a power, upon notification from the Committee 
on Organization, to make nominations for the first Board of 
Editors, who shall be elected in such manner as may be pre- 
scribed by the Committee on Organization. 

According to my views, members of this second committee 
should be men of high standing in the profession who are not 
however Latin Americanists. I regard such a committee as 
necessary, so as to allow members of the Committee on Organ- 
ization to work with an entirely free hand, free from suspicion 
that they are working in their own interests, and yet free when 
the time comes to accept an election to the Board of Editors. 

Thereupon, the resolution proposed by Dr. Chapman 
was unanimously approved. Following, Dr. Chapman moved 
his first motion, proposing as the Committee on Organization 
the following: 

For East — James A. Robertson, Washington, chairman; 
William R. Shepherd, Columbia; Edward L. Stevenson, His- 
panic Society; Hiram Bingham, Yale; Julius Klein, Harvard. 

For Middle West — Isaac J. Cox, Cincinnati, or Roland G. 
Usher, Washington University. 

For West — Herbert E. Bolton, California. 

Dr. Cox immediately withdrew his name, leaving the name 
of Roland G. Usher. 

On being duly seconded, the motion (including names) 
was amended to read "That a Committee of Nine," and that 
the names of Charles E. Chapman, California, and C. L. 
Chandler, of Chattanooga, Tenn., South American representa- 
tive for freight traffic of the Southern Railway Co., and other 
then the original motion as amended, were passed. Dr. Chap- 
railways, be added to the committee. The amendments, and 



58 A Calif ornian in South America 

man attempted, without success, to withdraw, as he and Dr. 
WilHam Spence Robertson had agreed only to set the ball 
rolling, and suggested that he would be embarrassed in re- 
porting the result of the meeting to his colleague in the pro- 
posal. 

Mr. Chapman formally moved his second suggestion, nam- 
ing as a Nominating Committee Drs. J. F, Jameson, F. J. 
Turner, and Justin H. Smith. The motion was passed unani- 
mously. 

Re, the first motion, on motion by Roland G. Usher, with 
the requisite second, it was resolved that a quorum in the Com- 
mittee on Organization should consist of three members. 

Idem, by motion of Dr. Chapman, duly seconded. That 
upon the resignation or death of any member, the other mem- 
bers be empowered to elect his successor. 

On motion by C. L. Chandler, duly seconded, it was unani- 
mously resolved that Dr. Chapman be instructed to write to 
Dr. William Spence Robertson, the appreciation of those 
present of his scholarship and work. 

On motion by Dr. Bonham of Louisiana, duly seconded, 
it was unanimously resolved that a vote of thanks be extended 
to Drs. Chapman and Smith. , 

On motion, the meeting was adjourned sine die. 

Among those speaking on matters connected with the pro- 
ject were Drs. Jameson, Burr, Bonham, C. L. Chandler, and 
others. The meeting was deeply enthusiastic and purposeful. 

Those present, so far as they could be ascertained, were : 
Messrs. E. C. Barker, Austin, Texas; E. J. Benton, Western 
Reserve; M. L. Bonham, Louisiana; E. W. Brandon, Oxford, 
Ohio ; G. L. Burr, Cornell ; C. L. Chandler, Chattanooga ; C. E. 
Chapman, California ; A. H. Clark, Cleveland ; I. J. Cox, Cincin- 
nati ; Gr. S. Godard, Hartford ; F. H. Hodder, Kansas ; J. A. James, 
Northwestern ; J. F. Jameson ; J. L. Kingsbury, Kirksville, Mo. ; 
J. G. McDonald, Bloomington; T. M. Marshall, Idaho; T. P. 
Martin, Cambridge; V. H. Paltsits, New York PuDlic Library; 
C. O. Paullin, Carnegie Institution; W. W. Pierson Jr., North 
Carolina; James A. Robertson, Washington, D. C. ; W. L. 



The Latin American Meeting at Cincinnati 59 

Schurz, Michigan; F. J. Turner, Harvard; Roland G. Usher, 
Washington University, St. Louis; Miss Irene T. Myers, 
Lexington, Ky. ; and Mrs. M. H. Stone, Saginaw, Mich. 

James A. Robertson, 

Secretary. 



/I 



IIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

015 827 312 3 










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